During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observations:
This week in Ms. Parvo's class students finished collecting data for their Whirlybird Lab and then began analyzing the data. The purpose of the lab was to bring together ideas and concepts related to the scientific method, which students have been learning about in preparation for their individual ninth grade science project. The lab provided students the opportunity to create hypotheses, alter variables, analyze data and make conclusions. The data collected was the time it took the whirlybirds to fall from the second to the first floor of the school, so while the class was in the hallway collecting data, Ms. Parvo kept reminding students to stay on task and control their behavior. She said last period is always the rowdiest group who have trouble focusing, therefore, with this class she needs to be more stern and reinforce the classroom rules more often. In this case, Ms. Parvo had to apply a more formal authority teaching style opposed to her usual facilitator and personal style of teaching. I went around and helped students stay on task by asking how their data collection was going and to explain to me any trends they have already started to notice with the changes they made to their whirlybirds (i.e. adding paperclips to increase the mass results in a shorter time period for the whirlybird to drop).
Once back in the classroom, Ms. Parvo was able to work with small groups of students to help them analyze their data, opposed to having to monitor the entire class in an unusual setting. Throughout my observations thus far, and specifically this week, Ms. Parvo normally implements a facilitator teaching style. It is obvious that the students like her and she has developed positive relationships with all of her students on a personal level. The Whirlybird Lab, in particular, supports my inferences of Ms. Parvo's teaching style because it was an activity that fostered student collaboration in groups where participation from all was needed, and the data analysis also required students to process the information they collected in terms of the scientific method and apply what they know to creating line graphs. Furthermore, in the next class Ms. Parvo will foster student-centered learning by providing her students with information on laws of motion and have them pull out necessary information to make conclusions about their data.
Reflection:
When first began observing Ms. Parvo and her class, I was slightly surprised by the relationships Ms. Parvo and her students developed. She seems to know a whole lot about their lives outside the classroom and the students have no problem asking her questions about personal and/or those tough questions you don't usually hear. There always seems to be lighthearted joking from both sides. As the students begin to get comfortable with me in the classroom they are opening up more and not hesitating to ask me questions about their work or activities. This shows me that Ms. Parvo nurtures a very welcomig environment in her classroom where everyone feels comfortable around everyone else. Through her facilitator teaching style, Ms. Parvo fosters student-centered learning, allowing students in work collaboratively and bounce ideas off each other. Even though the classroom seems to be a laidback environment, if the students veer off track and start to lose focus, Ms. Parvo will quickly refocuses attentions and assists students where help is needed. While students were analyzing data and creating line graphs, I walked around to see how everyone was doing. I noticed that when students were having difficulties with the data or didn't know where to start, they either looked to a friend for help or their hand shot up immediately to get some help from Ms. Parvo or myself. To support Ms. Parvo's teaching styles, when a student asked me a question about how the create the line graph, I first asked them to recall the differences between independent and dependent variables and identify which axis each belonged on. With these identified, most students were good to finish on their own, but if more help was required I asked questions and provided basic scaffolding to allow the students to answer their questions. Lastly, to make sure students understood the data and graphs I had them verbally explain to me their data and how the graph further supported the trends the noticed (i.e. decrease in slope of the line as more paperclips were added means the whirlybird fell faster with more mass). It is noticeable through observation, but seen more clearly when talking with the students, that power is distributed throughout the classroom. Ms. Parvo, and now myself as well, are seen to have the most power and control over the classroom, but students have power as well in the classroom. They are not afraid to share ideas and comment on activites because they know their input is valuable and will be respected.
Through my experiences thus far, I feel that I will gravitate towards a similar facilitator style of teaching that Ms. Parvo expresses because it seems to be effective for this group of heterogeneously mixed students. With all different learning abilities and levels in one classroom of 28 students, trying to be too athoritative or trying to delegate complete autonomy on the students parts will most likely result in classroom chaos. Ultimately, my teaching style will develop with time in the classroom and I will find what works best for me and what I am most comfortable doing. However, like with personality styles, you have dominant styles, but you have to also be willing to cross over and be a lesser style depending on the people you are working with. It will prove to be valuable in the classroom if I can alter my teaching styles and provide effectve methods of teaching for the different classes I teach.
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.Observations:
This week in Ms. Parvo's class students finished collecting data for their Whirlybird Lab and then began analyzing the data. The purpose of the lab was to bring together ideas and concepts related to the scientific method, which students have been learning about in preparation for their individual ninth grade science project. The lab provided students the opportunity to create hypotheses, alter variables, analyze data and make conclusions. The data collected was the time it took the whirlybirds to fall from the second to the first floor of the school, so while the class was in the hallway collecting data, Ms. Parvo kept reminding students to stay on task and control their behavior. She said last period is always the rowdiest group who have trouble focusing, therefore, with this class she needs to be more stern and reinforce the classroom rules more often. In this case, Ms. Parvo had to apply a more formal authority teaching style opposed to her usual facilitator and personal style of teaching. I went around and helped students stay on task by asking how their data collection was going and to explain to me any trends they have already started to notice with the changes they made to their whirlybirds (i.e. adding paperclips to increase the mass results in a shorter time period for the whirlybird to drop).
Once back in the classroom, Ms. Parvo was able to work with small groups of students to help them analyze their data, opposed to having to monitor the entire class in an unusual setting. Throughout my observations thus far, and specifically this week, Ms. Parvo normally implements a facilitator teaching style. It is obvious that the students like her and she has developed positive relationships with all of her students on a personal level. The Whirlybird Lab, in particular, supports my inferences of Ms. Parvo's teaching style because it was an activity that fostered student collaboration in groups where participation from all was needed, and the data analysis also required students to process the information they collected in terms of the scientific method and apply what they know to creating line graphs. Furthermore, in the next class Ms. Parvo will foster student-centered learning by providing her students with information on laws of motion and have them pull out necessary information to make conclusions about their data.
Reflection:
When first began observing Ms. Parvo and her class, I was slightly surprised by the relationships Ms. Parvo and her students developed. She seems to know a whole lot about their lives outside the classroom and the students have no problem asking her questions about personal and/or those tough questions you don't usually hear. There always seems to be lighthearted joking from both sides. As the students begin to get comfortable with me in the classroom they are opening up more and not hesitating to ask me questions about their work or activities. This shows me that Ms. Parvo nurtures a very welcomig environment in her classroom where everyone feels comfortable around everyone else. Through her facilitator teaching style, Ms. Parvo fosters student-centered learning, allowing students in work collaboratively and bounce ideas off each other. Even though the classroom seems to be a laidback environment, if the students veer off track and start to lose focus, Ms. Parvo will quickly refocuses attentions and assists students where help is needed. While students were analyzing data and creating line graphs, I walked around to see how everyone was doing. I noticed that when students were having difficulties with the data or didn't know where to start, they either looked to a friend for help or their hand shot up immediately to get some help from Ms. Parvo or myself. To support Ms. Parvo's teaching styles, when a student asked me a question about how the create the line graph, I first asked them to recall the differences between independent and dependent variables and identify which axis each belonged on. With these identified, most students were good to finish on their own, but if more help was required I asked questions and provided basic scaffolding to allow the students to answer their questions. Lastly, to make sure students understood the data and graphs I had them verbally explain to me their data and how the graph further supported the trends the noticed (i.e. decrease in slope of the line as more paperclips were added means the whirlybird fell faster with more mass). It is noticeable through observation, but seen more clearly when talking with the students, that power is distributed throughout the classroom. Ms. Parvo, and now myself as well, are seen to have the most power and control over the classroom, but students have power as well in the classroom. They are not afraid to share ideas and comment on activites because they know their input is valuable and will be respected.
Through my experiences thus far, I feel that I will gravitate towards a similar facilitator style of teaching that Ms. Parvo expresses because it seems to be effective for this group of heterogeneously mixed students. With all different learning abilities and levels in one classroom of 28 students, trying to be too athoritative or trying to delegate complete autonomy on the students parts will most likely result in classroom chaos. Ultimately, my teaching style will develop with time in the classroom and I will find what works best for me and what I am most comfortable doing. However, like with personality styles, you have dominant styles, but you have to also be willing to cross over and be a lesser style depending on the people you are working with. It will prove to be valuable in the classroom if I can alter my teaching styles and provide effectve methods of teaching for the different classes I teach.